Aftermath of a Sorceress
by Jed
Summary: Post sorceress, and the group are forced to face up to a possible threat from within Garden itself...
1. General banter

b### Balamb Garden Network Message Board ###/b  
  
I'm so bored! The new history Prof. may have experience and knowledge, but he can't get it to us!!! Quisty, you were good at history right? Why don't you try teaching it?!?  
  
b###WoohooItsSefie/b  
  
Yey! Bring back Quisty!!!!!  
  
b###TrepeRules001/b  
  
Hear hear! Reckon I should whip his ass, might spark the ol' fool up a little!  
  
b###Booyakasha/b  
  
Er… I don't think it's really necessary! I can do my own whipping ass thanks Zell! But I agree, Professor Zangan knows what he's on about but can't put it across right. I knew my students inside out. He just doesn't get in touch.  
  
b###Dominatrix/b  
  
You guys want some kind of special bond with a teacher?. I just found it annoying… I can finish my own sentences Thankyou Quistis. Zangan's alright, he knows his stuff, that's it.  
  
b###Lionheart/b  
  
He knows far too much about the Sorceress Wars if you ask me… I know it's like, his field and everything but still… creepy!  
  
b###SharpshooterNo1/b  
  
Oh Squall, I knew you'd be like that, lighten up! To me it was useful to know you guys! Sometimes knowing your temperament could decide a grade if it was a difficult one or borderline cos I could relate to what you meant.  
  
b###Dominatrix/b  
  
Yeah, whatever…  
  
b###Lionheart/b  
  
We've gotta do something about this guy… today's lesson was like… YAWN!!! Come on Quisty! Help us!  
  
b###WoohooItsSefie/b  
  
PLOTTING AGAINST A TEACHER WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. YOUR MESSAGES ARE DELETED  
  
b###GARDEN FACULTY IT COORDINATOR  
  
Er… ok… I didn't think many people used this network.  
  
b###Dominatrix/b  
  
Since when did Garden have an IT co-ordinator?!?!?  
  
b###Booyakasha/b  
  
We need to like, meet up somewhere guys… you all know where!  
  
b###WoohooItsSefie/b 


	2. A secret meeting

In the Training centre  
  
"I still don't see why you guys can't just put up with it. Yeah so he's boring and…" Squall was interrupted by Selphie who bounced up and down on the spot.  
  
"He's not just boring, he's unbearable!!!" she cried. "You should know Squall, Zell, what's he like in the staff room?"  
  
"Er…" They both stopped and looked at each other.  
  
"What is it?" Selphie bounced and squeaked higher.  
  
"Now you mention it… er…" Zell looked odd, "he's hardly ever in the staff room… tends to stick to his own office." He paused, "And don't look at me like that Sefie, we just thought he was unsociable!"  
  
"Which is exactly what he is! You guys are just jumping to conclusions. So he's boring, distant, he's interested in the Sor…" a worried look passed over Squall's face.  
  
"What IS it?!" Even higher. Quistis flinched.  
  
"Well, when I took up my teaching job" he tried hard not to notice the flame spark up just for a second in Quistis' eyes, "he seemed really interested in hearing all about how we'd destroyed Ultimecia and Adel and…"  
  
"As did everyone else in the whole entire universe! Man, even I got fed up of boasting to the laydees!" added Irvine.  
  
"Yeah, that's what I thought too." Continued Squall, "but now that I think about it, the things he asked me were really odd. I guess seeing as he's a specialist on the area and all…"  
  
"How odd?" Quistis interrupted as the group gathered round.  
  
Squall saw that his rational explanations weren't going to get him anywhere and began to explain.  
  
"Well, you know all the usual questions we all get" he put on a mimicking voice, "'were you scared?', 'did you cut her head off with your gunblade?', 'was she a babe close up?' that kind of thing?" They all chuckled at Squall's impressions of the same young girl that had hounded them for months afterwards with the same annoying questions. Squall couldn't help seeing a resemblance to Selphie in her.  
  
"Obviously they all weren't quite so annoying!" he grinned around the group, "but his were honestly just plain weird!"  
  
"'Explain to me again how EXACTLY you believe Ultimecia was achieving time compression', 'What happened to her body after you defeated her?', 'Did you notice if she seemed to be drawing her power from a certain place?', 'Did Ultimecia speak any of her future plans?'. I did just presume he was asking out of professional interest but I guess…"  
  
"Sorry guys," Quistis interrupted Squall's mumblings, "but it's my turn to be the critic here. So the professor asks you a bunch of stuff. We've already established that he's a major weirdo, but also that he holds a personal interest. It might be an odd interest, but it's still an interest. I could name others with worse interests…" She eyed the magazine sticking out of Irvine's pocket.  
  
"I really don't know why we're all worrying. If Selphie could go through a lesson without being distracted by the Garden network we'd never even be here talking about this… whatever the Hell we're talking about!" and with that she turned and left.  
  
The group stood stung for a moment, before Zell yawned. "I guess that sorta wraps it up folks… and I wanna head to the cafeteria before I catch some shut-eye. Catch you all later!" he waved and left.  
  
Later on as Squall saw Zangan in the corridor, head-down and scurrying towards his room, he couldn't help feeling that there was something strained and hurried about his greeting, and that the man felt he ought to be elsewhere and fast. But how could he know they'd even been talking about him? And if it had worried him, then what did he have to hide? 


	3. Prologue

buPrologue/b/u  
  
After the defeat of Ultimecia, Squall and the group had returned to Garden to either continue their education or for employment. As the best Gunblade master in the world, Squall had become tutor (and role-model) at the best Garden in the world, Balamb, much to Seifer's disgust. He hated having a rival for a tutor, but he was still trying to pass the SeeD field exam, and couldn't do anything about it. However, Seifer had lightened up a lot lately, and teaching him wasn't so bad unless he was in a particularly foul mood.  
  
Squall enjoyed his teaching position, and he was certainly looked upon with great admiration by ALL the students AND staff. Saving the world was obviously a good start in life!  
  
The rest of the group were doing well for themselves too. Zell had become one of the many martial arts instructors, and was also a famous hoverboard stunt master, winning the international hoverboard championship at Esthar City, and with even more groupies than Quistis! He still lacked patience, but was a fun person and an inspirational teacher. He even got on with Seifer now, but they couldn't yet tolerate each other for long periods.  
  
Selphie had become the International Garden Co-operation Ambassador, basically meaning she moved from Garden to Garden promoting meetings and tournaments between the different ones. She had also played a large and supportive part in the reconstruction of Trabia Garden, offering counsel and help to the survivors of the missile attack a year earlier, and had been a founding member of the newest Garden to be set up near Esthar City. She believed friendship between Gardens to be absolutely necessary, as it would prevent warring between any continents or cities if they were all bonded by SeeD. Rivalry between Gardens was absolutely unacceptable, and it was also Selphie's job to keep this to a minimum.  
  
Quistis had returned to Trabia Garden to follow another teaching course. She ran tutoring clubs in her spare time to try and improve her teaching skills. All of the group were behind her, and she was grateful for their support. Losing her teaching job really hit her hard, and she was prepared to do anything she could to get it back. But the only thing she did lack was the experience, and now confidence. All the other teachers were older and wiser than her, apart from Squall and Zell, but they had such amazing skills and talents in their field they had been given the jobs anyway. Quistis couldn't help feeling left out, and had to work hard to hide her jealousy from the two young tutors.  
  
Irvine was continuing education and extending his knowledge of fire- arms, intending to prove his self-proclaimed skills at being the "greatest sharpshooter in the world", and hoping to follow in the footsteps of his friends and becoming a tutor. He was known to follow Selphie around occasionally still, even though the couple were pretty much official, everyone knew he really got on her nerves sometimes!!!  
  
Things had been pretty quiet for the last 6 months or so, and the world seemed at peace. Everyone was happy, and with the new Gardens, it seemed like nothing could spoil the paradise…  
  
How wrong could they be? 


End file.
